THE SECOND COMING

IF HOPE, ORANGE AND PACE WERE THE ORIGINAL HOLY TRINITY OF UK MTB, BY THE EARLY 2000S IT WAS DMR, WHYTE AND COTIC THAT WERE REALLY PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES

-  Steve Thomas

DMR BIKES

Founded: 1995

Based: Golding Barn, Sussex

Key products: Trailstar frame (1997), V8/V12 pedals (1999), Vault pedals (2010), Deathgrips (2016)

Current line-up: Bikes, frames, wheels, tyres, cranks, pedals, cockpit kit and more

By the mid 1990s, mountain biking had reached its first peak in the UK. Cross-country racing was king, Lycra was pretty much compulsory and big mainstream brands were eclipsing the smaller outfits that had previously pushed the sport forwards. Come the turn of the millennium, however, and everything from the clothes we wore to the bikes and trails we rode was changing. Things had gone off in all sorts of directions, from trials riding to the more fun-focused take on XC that would become known as trail riding, North Shore freeride to dirt jumping. And DMR were perfectly placed to capitalise on this and give riders the sort of kit they were clamouring for.

The brand was set up in 1995 by two fresh-faced young lads, Damian Mason and Matt Ryley, operating from a tiny office in the back of a BMX shop on a Sussex industrial estate. Their first products were single-speed chain tugs and a BMX frame called the Trigger, but it was the 1997 Trailstar hardtail that put DMR on the map, winning a huge fanbase among dirt jumpers, dual slalom racers and general razzers, with its bombproof build and low-slung (for the time) frame. In Matt's own words: "It changed the dirt jumping scene and created its own cult-like following."